A “Test Kitchen” at the Southern Edge of the Boreal Forest

At the southern edge of the boreal forest in northern Minnesota, the spruce trees are in retreat. A diverse group of state, federal, academic, and NGO partners are experimenting with planting conifers in places they have a better chance of success.

As Minnesota Public Radio reports, the forest is projected to convert from pine trees to a hardwood forest in future decades, but there is an interest in diversifying the tree cover.

“…foresters are targeting specific areas of the forests, cold spots on the landscape, where temperatures have historically been cooler, or the temperature has not been rising as fast, where spruce, pine and other species may be able to continue to survive, even as the bulk of the boreal forest migrates northward.”